For this weeks challenge you will create a card or project with a DIVA on it! This means…use an image of a girl with “ATTITUDE and/or STYLE!” Oh…and don’t forget to stamp! After all, we don’t call this STAMPtacular for nothing!

I've used my Cupcake Diva stamp from Stamping Bella - if it's got "Diva" in the name it just has to be DIVA-tacular, right??

Thursday, August 25, 2011

We're Blasting to the PAST at Meljen's Designs this week! Showcasing some of our favorite Meljen's Designs images from when we first discovered the amazing artwork of Melissa Jenkins!

I am excited to share with you my FIRST ever Meljen's card using "Little Girl Bear Hugs"

I remember this card well! I made 2 of these right after we brought our daughter home from her appendix surgery and sent one of them off to the staff in pediatrics at the hospital and another one to the surgeon who performed her surgery. I was so impressed with how well everyone took care of her and how she barely even noticed what was going on. While she had all of the nurses wrapped around her little finger, her Daddy and I were on pins and needles and exhausted! I spent the nights in the hospital with her, but couldn't sleep, so I colored images and blog hopped and left comments all over the blogosphere! Seeing everyone's beautiful happy cards really cheered me up and was such a big help to me during those hours spent listening to her sleep! So, this Thank You also goes out to everyone out there who shares their cards online!

Now, I'd also like to share one of my very Favorite cards! Using one of my favorite images, "Espresso Yourself"! I just LOVE coffee and everything coffee related and this image is just perfect for me! I also have a very wonderful friend who loves coffee as much as I do and her birthday was last month. I had held onto this little tag for a long long time, and finally ended up passing it on to my friend for her birthday. She loves it and has it displayed in her kitchen, so I can visit it every time I stop by!

Our challenge this week is for you to share YOUR first project using a Meljen's Designs image! I can't wait to see where the obsession started with you!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

I found these SUPER CUTE tiny little bottle caps at the Lobby of Hobby the other day and thought it would be really cute to make a necklace set for Emily. They were so small, though, that I really had to do some looking to find pictures small enough to put in them! Emily wanted princesses, so we found some stickers, cut out the heads with a circle punch (now Emily has 6 headless princess stickers to play with! LOL!!) and stuck the stickers into the bottle caps. We ran a bead of Dazzling Diamond Stickles around the edge of the sticker and let that dry... overnight.

This is so hard on poor Emily, who is such an instant gratification kind of gal!!

The next day, when the Stickles were dry, we filled each little bottle cap with that Crystal Laquer/Glossy Glaze stuff and again, set them aside to dry... overnight.

Emily's about in hysterics by this point!! I guess it's a good thing we didn't do one bottle cap at a time!

Finally, the charms are ALL DONE! At the same time I bought the bottle caps, I picked up a simple chain for her to wear them on, so I grabbed that and told Emily that her necklace was ready!

Here is the finished product! Emily loves it! She loves being able to change out the charms and has already worn Sleeping Beauty and Ariel!

I'll have to go pick up another pack of bottle caps and keep an eye out for more tiny pictures to put in them! My Mom suggested pictures of the family, I think that's a good idea, too!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Create a card that is folded in some non-traditional way.. not just down the left side or top side of the card. Be creative! More than one fold would be great! In fact, for every fold your card has, your name will be put into this week`s drawing for our fabulous prize that many times!! Oh…and don’t forget to stamp! After all, we don’t call this STAMPtacular for nothing!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

So, we've been spending a lot of time at the movie theater this summer! With the free summer movie program that our theater offers, as well as all the new movies that came out this summer, it's been a busy popcorn eating couple of months!

Every time we went to the theater, I would look up and see hanging from the ceiling this amazing Cars 2 vinyl banner. It looked pretty big... and I thought, "Wow, wouldn't that look cool on a wall in the kids playroom?" So, I asked the manager what they do with those things when they take them down, and she said they give them away. Well, I just had to ask how I would get my hands on that one! She said to keep checking back and ask when they would stop showing Cars 2, because that is when they would take the banner down. So, I asked.. and asked.. and asked again.. and asked some more. Every time I was there, I would ask. Which was almost every week. Finally, when I went late one night to see The Help, I asked again. I think I was starting to become quite the pest, but my Dad always said, the squeeky wheel gets the grease, right, Dad? So, the manager said that they would be taking the banner down that night and that I could come pick it up the next morning! OH MY GOSH! I barely slept that night! LOL! So, the next morning, I wandered into the theater and asked, yet again.. noticing that it was no longer hanging from the ceiling, and the manager came out carrying this GIGANTIC bundle! Seriously, the thing is HUGE! I took his word that it was the right banner, I wasn't about to open it up there, and tossed it in my trunk. When I got home, hubby was just flabergasted! He thought I was talking about one of the paper movie posters or a cardboard standee... but this... well, this was over-the-top amazing!

So, we immediately took it downstairs to the playroom, grabbed the staple gun and went to work! It was too big for ANY of the walls down there, even though the room is bigger than my first apartment! But, we finally decided that it could wrap around a corner and still look good. I wasn't about to cut the darn thing! It covers from floor to ceiling, too! Seriously, HUGE!

So, long story.. but here are the pictures!

Sorry for the glare!

According to collider.com, it was created by a team of 20-25 people, features 415 posed characters and took about 5 months to create! It is double sided, but we liked this side best.

He couldn't take his eyes off of it!

Here's Little Man's face when he first walked into the room!

Emily didn't like it at first and didn't want to be in the photos, but she has finally decided that it is pretty cool!

So, if you were wondering, THAT'S how you decorate an awesome playroom for the kids for FREE! Ask your theater, it's better than tossing it in a dumpster, right?

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Have you noticed how when you add just a small amount of black to your paper projects, it just really makes them pop? It's one of those little touches that adds so much detail and elegance, and I always seem to forget about it! So, this week at Meljen's Designs, we are challenging you to add some black! And, we've got some images that will work great with a touch of black, too!

I've created a cute bookmark using our new "Little Alligator" image and a fun sentiment from Raindrop Echo - it was actually a ticket sentiment that I trimmed down to fit my bookmark.

Here's the cute new image set from Meljen's this week

As always, such fun images to play and create with! Just LOVE them!

Come play along with us at Meljen's Designs this week - the challenge couldn't be easier or more fun and you've got a chance to win 3 free images from the shop! You could even choose these 3 new images!